A half mile from a lighted area of mixed businesses and dwellings.....over flat. ground.....and a lit tower (supposedly anyway) with a major highway running through the scene.....perhaps it was something just as simple as an engine failure that got them.
All this about how the UK does it has nothing to do with the Baton Rouge operation or the accident in question.
Budget is everything.....in Police work as well as in every Civilian operation....and safety suffers as a result EVERY time no matter the Operator.
Other factors are far more critical when analyzing the accident.....beginning with the Weather.....what were the climatic conditions at the time?
Followed by all those other questions of equipment, training, SOP's currency, instrument proficiency if IIMC was a factor.
Personally, the only way I would be involved in a Robbie Crash would be if one landed on my head by pure serendipity.....or just sad fate.
Jet Rangers are a step up.....MD-500's....a better step up.....and then we get to twins, and all the Gucci Kit.
For night flying....having flown with and without NVG's.....the only way in my thinking is with NVG's.